Daniel Arias, Bioassay Technologist, Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks
Why did you join the ACPO?
I joined the ACPO because I wanted to be apart of a professional organization which stands out as a platform to maintain a high degree of scientific innovation in chemistry related fields. The association provides a professional platform to communicate with other chemical professionals and also increase knowledge across interdisciplinary fields.
What Chemical Industry do you work in? What do you love about your Industry?
I recently joined the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks focusing on biological toxin profiling within different environmental matrices. I enjoy environmental monitoring due to the interdisciplinary nature of the field in which chemistry and biology are combined to not only monitor for toxins but protect water sources.
Why would you encourage a student to major in the Chemistry field?
Chemistry is such a diverse field and is continually growing- both from an academic and private industry perspective. A chemistry major program not only exposes students to different subdisciplines but also gives students necessary hands-on skills coupled with high impact, current theoretical knowledge to continue expanding the field of chemistry.
If you could have coffee with any chemist in the history, who would that be and why?
I would have a coffee with Louis Pasteur because of his expertise linking chemical processes within a microbial context. His discovery of racemization and isomerism using tartaric acid as the molecule of interest revealed that chemical synthesis could not produce isomers but biologically mediated systems can.
